Questions tagged [mistakes]
For questions involving mistakes that happen at the workplace, and to deal with the fallout or to recover from them.
61
questions
7
votes
3answers
2k views
How to navigate an embarrassing mistake I created and recover?
asking for a friend
As part of a small project I wrote some code some months ago.
The code passed my tests, code review, UAT by business analysts and everything was fine. When the time came for me ...
10
votes
3answers
2k views
Colleague cannot put down her phone… even while teaching!
A colleague cannot put down her phone, not for a moment. She's a lecturer in English. Today I came into one of her classes, and she was holding her phone in front of her face with one hand while ...
8
votes
3answers
1k views
Should I alert my previous employer to errors I made during an internship?
I finished my very first proper internship at an engineering company (HVAC industry) a couple of months ago. I worked in sales support for the sales engineers and filled out project equipment ...
3
votes
4answers
610 views
Should I reveal my mistake after project delivery? [duplicate]
I was working on a project, as assigned by my manager. It was completed, reviewed and delivered, and is now under maintenance. While I was searching through code (for a different purpose) I realized ...
37
votes
8answers
7k views
How can I regain a professional atmosphere with someone who may have seen me misbehave? [closed]
I believe a female colleague saw me masturbating at work. I was in my office after hours with the door locked and blinds down, but I'm afraid the blinds had a crack. I am not an exhibitionist, and ...
-4
votes
3answers
894 views
Bonus error in my favor [closed]
I'm working in Europe for a big multinational company. I was promoted last year, with an increase on my base salary and bonus.
I recently received my bonus for last year. However my company just told ...
4
votes
6answers
1k views
Self-employed and messed up a client's brochure, should I still bill them?
I have been self-employed for 2 years and most of my work is in web development/general IT. I mostly work for small businesses and sometimes they need extra things like graphic design. Often my ...
5
votes
5answers
1k views
Should I make it up to my manager for making him buy something I didn't need?
I just started a new job and asked my boss to order me a USB hub about a week ago (they will order stuff you need for work). A couple days later I discovered that the monitors have built in USB plugs. ...
3
votes
2answers
191 views
How to cope with and mitigate contractor screwups? [closed]
I sometimes manage construction projects and one of the big ongoing problems is how to deal with a mistake by a contractor or subcontractor.
For example, in one case I had a piece of equipment ...
6
votes
6answers
896 views
Should I own up my own mistake in public?
I am working as a software qualify assurance engineer and partially due to my work, a bug managed to get to our production code.
Our customer service team has reported back this issue to us on Slack.
...
3
votes
6answers
770 views
Is a coworker rightfully annoyed by my typo?
I recently got chastised in an e-mail because I pasted the wrong number. She asked me for the ID number of a test run that I submitted to a server. To view details about a test run, you have to run a ...
2
votes
2answers
859 views
How do I make amends and go about apologizing to former manager(s) after being dismissed for gross misconduct?
I was fired for gross misconduct , and want to apologize to my former mangers as I didn't see them at all during my last days at the company. Should i ring/message them to ask to meet face to face to ...
8
votes
6answers
2k views
Am I being overly critical and unfair to my coworker or is she being entitled?
About a year ago my boss was fired, and I was put in his place as a new manager. Our team was already understaffed, so I ended up doing several jobs, including team lead, project lead and PM for a big ...
5
votes
2answers
608 views
Made a mistake that really annoyed a coworker. Should I attempt to explain myself or just leave it be?
I had an issue that I needed a DBA's help with. I went to my go-to DBA (DBA#1), since he's usually been friendly and receptive to my questions. He gave me his recommendation, and I logged a ticket for ...
-4
votes
2answers
646 views
How to overcome lunch-break embarrassing incident? [closed]
I was sitting on a table in the lunch room when I started coughing, which to my utter embarrassment resulted in a disgusting sound. Unfortunately, there were other colleagues having lunch near me, who ...
0
votes
1answer
903 views
Forgot to mention subject in my letter, what should I do? [closed]
I forgot to specify subject for my letter. I already apply macros for my Outlook so I will not do this again. Is there something I should do for this sent email?
3
votes
4answers
1k views
Should I withdraw my job application after discovering an unacceptable mistake?
My girlfriend submitted a job application to a big international organization based in the EU. After sending in the final application, she realized she made a shameful mistake in the name of the ...
2
votes
3answers
728 views
I started a new job, and I hate it. Should I ask to be moved?
I'm a little lost and looking for help. I recently started a new position within my organization and I am really uncomfortable. Luckily, I work for a company that allows folks in a certain program (...
-1
votes
1answer
3k views
I made a mistake in signing a birthday card
My coworker who is my mentor and we have a very formal relationship just gave me his birthday card to sign and left. I signed it whilst wishing a happy birthday to the wrong person. I then, instead of ...
0
votes
1answer
307 views
Made mistake by doing independent contracting, how soon can I go back to old job?
I recently left my job at Company A where I was working on separate contracts to Companies B and C. Now I'm an independent subcontractor to Company B. I left because I wanted to work less hours, work ...
13
votes
4answers
1k views
How to handle a boss that I believe is non-maliciously setting me up for failure?
I have been working with a company for about 6 months, with the job title of software engineer/support specialist. So far, I have done very little software work, but that was initially expected.
The ...
5
votes
5answers
2k views
Accidentally upset coworker, how to mend this situation?
Backstory
I've been working at this office for about 3 months now and everything seems to be going smooth. During our company's time allocated for sports while we were standing with ~12 people on the ...
3
votes
3answers
273 views
Senior developer and design review feedback [closed]
I've been working in the software industry for around 7 years with above average skills. I have worked on many smaller projects, contributing at every layer end to end.
I was asked to work on the low ...
1
vote
1answer
662 views
Mistake in years of work in resume [duplicate]
I have made a mistake in my resume. I have worked in one company on different positions. I have written in the resume wrong years for two consequent positions, but not the latest one within the ...
10
votes
1answer
550 views
Lost important office documents. How to properly handle the situation?
I found out that some important office documents have gone missing from my custody. I am responsible for the lost documents. What should I do in this situation?
59
votes
13answers
17k views
Is using internet proxies a sackable offence? [closed]
I'm based in the UK and am about six months into my first job as an Apprentice Software Dev, and came straight into it from college. All through high school and college we would easily bypass the ...
-1
votes
1answer
358 views
How should I rectify wrong information on my resume, when I already received the offer?
I received an offer from a company via a competitive coding contest. The information that was conveyed through my resume was slightly wrong by mistake. Instead of having an overall experience of 3.5 ...
4
votes
3answers
3k views
Gross misconduct and being a scapegoat [closed]
Context: In employment for a small London based software engineering company (3 employees including me) for 18 months now. No previous warnings or grievances or disciplinary procedures.
I was due ...
0
votes
3answers
1k views
How do I get past a stupid mistake I made at company event?
I've made a stupid mistake at a company event (nothing to do with work, but the whole crew was there).
Here's what I did: I've decided to stream an event using a live stream from the Internet and a ...
8
votes
5answers
5k views
How to deal with a coworker which keeps pointing out a mistake I made?
At some point I made a mistake which made a certain feature of our app fail. This got mentioned in the next team meeting by QA, but in a really aggressive and threatening way (as in "This simply can't ...
-2
votes
2answers
614 views
How to deal with a huge workplace mistake? [closed]
So, I asked for time off a little over a month ago for the Friday after Thanksgiving and I was under the impression that my boss said he would cover my shift. Yesterday, I texted him to remind him ...
-4
votes
2answers
230 views
How to handle a manager who always complains [closed]
Few months backs my project was changed and I was moved to a new team. It is a small team and I was the only person who was new to the framework we were going to work.
The first month I was assigned ...
-3
votes
2answers
2k views
How to reduce mistakes at work? [closed]
I've been working as a statistician in a governmental institution for over 8 years. I have master degree in economics I'm known for my good behaviours, intelligent and skills. Everyone who has a ...
234
votes
9answers
53k views
How can I inform my boss that I may have been hired by mistake?
I was hired at my current workplace just over a month ago. During the interview process, I found out that someone I knew from university was also interviewing for the position. I'll call him Jim. Jim ...
-1
votes
3answers
484 views
I accidentally submitted sub-optimal application to an employer and can't retract it; What do I do?
I was exploring the job-application portal for a particular employer I am very interested in and foolishly decided to see what the application process was like by "starting" an application, assuming ...
-3
votes
2answers
304 views
Accidentally gave inaccurate information regarding my notice period in a phone interview
During a phone interview I was nervous and mistakenly told the interviewer that I was currently serving my notice period, however it actually finished one month ago. Is this likely to cause a problem ...
3
votes
3answers
910 views
How to hide the fact you very publicly messed up in your last job from potential employers?
This is totally hypothetical based on the recent Ryanair debacle. In no way have I screwed up at work (today, at least), and I don't work for Ryanair.
So I'm the HR manager who decided to switch our ...
0
votes
1answer
246 views
Feeling impossible to leave for greater opportunity after taking a counteroffer earlier [closed]
A month ago I almost accidentally ended up in an interview which I took very relaxed not planning to get the job there at all (went just to get more interview experience). But they made me an ok offer ...
11
votes
5answers
3k views
How should a manager handle an employee who lacks intuition?
I'm a manager at a small company. My team maintains product and marketing data. One of my team members, a graphic designer named Amelia, is an increasing source of consternation.
Amelia has several ...
1
vote
2answers
2k views
Job title mistake (a word missing) on my resume. Does it affect my background check?
Can anyone give me some opinions?
I am now a trainee in an information security department of a company. Also, I had been a data analyst trainee in another company.
Thus, when I was making my resume ...
-2
votes
1answer
6k views
Ending Date Discrepancy Mistake on Resume and Background Check - 1 year
I recently received an offer for a fantastic entry-level job and they are running a background check, which is taking longer than expected. So much so that my start date was pushed back. Today, I ...
12
votes
6answers
2k views
I submitted an unapproved feature, got in trouble, now what?
TLDR: I pushed (broken) functionality without approval that ended up being caught by QA, and my boss is (rightfully) upset. What should I do?
I work as a developer on a digital product.
Recently, ...
7
votes
4answers
3k views
Just started a new job and I screwed up big time - How to best come back from this?
I just started at a high-intensity company doing graphic and web work. My boss had worked with me before at a third party company and loved my work, and offered for me to come on board full time with ...
44
votes
8answers
8k views
How can I fix a large financial mistake that I made? [closed]
I've made a huge mistake and am looking for some advice. I especially need advice now because I'm an emotional wreck and don't know if I can make a sane decision on my own.
I was on rocky terms with ...
8
votes
4answers
2k views
How to get coworker to own up to his mistakes?
My coworker (hired 1+ years ago) has made numerous mistakes in his work, recently requiring many extra hours from both of us to fix. The mistakes are frustrating but the worst part is my coworker does ...
0
votes
1answer
171 views
Internship technical task question, revising mistakes
So I was given a technical task to do from home as part of the interviewing process for an internship and submit the task to them when I'm finished. I submitted the task, then I realized I made a ...
3
votes
4answers
584 views
Shall I accept an HR “mistake” about the contract? [closed]
I validated a "contract-to-hire" probation period, and now received my final contract for the permanent position, to sign it.
It is consistent with what the HR employee and I had agreed by mail before ...
-1
votes
1answer
842 views
Is “Termination with Gross Misconduct” possible after 3 months from finding that out? [closed]
My friend Bob was using the company's computer to download movies. He got caught 3 months ago, taken under disciplinary procedure and asked "Are you downloading files by using p2p software?" Bob ...
4
votes
3answers
3k views
A company addressed me by a wrong name, and then sent me an offer. How should I approach this situation?
A little over a week ago, I applied for a data science position with a company, not really expecting much to come of it. The next day, their recruiter emailed me to set up an interview, starting ...
0
votes
3answers
289 views
Should I offer additional help to my supervisor to correct my recent mistakes? [closed]
I have recently made some mistakes at work which might reflect badly on my reputation as an employee. Nothing similar happened before, I just had a temporary streak of underperformance. Additional ...
